Food Ideas for Day Party

*Pizza
*Chicken nuggets are easy - I've served these with cheese sticks and fruit. I usually have chicken strips for the grown ups and bake them on the same pan.
*We sometimes serve party food on toothpicks like a combination of pineapple chunks and cheese cubes, or little smokies.

Have fun!

All of our friends either order a few pizzas ahead or do Take n Bake. A fruit and veggie platter, and maybe a couple bags of chips pretty much rounds it out. It doesn't get much easier than that, and the kids sure don't care! We did grilled hot dogs for my son's birthday a few months ago and that was a hit just because we were all so sick of pizza at every party. :-) I had a crockpot of chili for those that wanted a chili dog, and some yummy Costco artichoke dip for the adults, and a few finger snacks like chips and fruit for everyone. Have fun!

How about little tea sandwiches, fruit, and veggies?

I was at a party recently where they served chili dogs... Just an idea.

You could do a "Build your own sandwich". Have differnt sliced deli meats and cheeses layed out, with different breads (White, Wheat, and Rye). Have condiments out, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, etc, some salads. It's different, you don't see it everyday, and people get what they want. My mom did this 2 years ago for a big family get together-it was a big hit.

We did Tacos for my twins Bday one year. We had shells, tortilla's, and the salad bowl kind for the moms and dads. We just made it to where everyone could build their own how they liked it. Then for something special to go with cake and ice cream you can add a little crunch by deep frying cut up tortilla's and then shake them up in a bag with sugar and cinn. and place them ontop of the ice cream. Good luck and have fun!

H., I have always found that kids love finger food. I have served pigs in a blanket (hotdogs or smokies wraped in bisket dough), fresh fruit (grapes cut into small bumches, strawberries, different mellons, ect), sliced meat and cheses(ham, turkey, chedar, munster (stay to the milder stuff)). If you want something warm you can do a meatball dish in a crock pot or a nacho cheese dip ( Velveta mixed with any chili) with chips. These are a few simple dishes, like I said I would keep it to finger food. Kids love it and moms love the clean up. A small word of advice... have a small clean up station set up for the other moms to wipe up their kidos hands or if you hand out goodie bags just include a small wipe package in the bag. Then the other moms don't have to go looking for theirs when it is clean up time. Good Luck, C. B.

We just had a party for my 2 year old--it was the weekend with the record heat--so heavy food just didnt seem appealing! We decided to do brunch food, and kept it very simple--bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, sliced veggies on one big platter; a large fruit salad, a pasta salad, a casserole (a jewish noodle dish called Kugel that my mom insisted on making!) and a couple of appetizers (that werent really needed)...and of course, a cake! A green salad or other favorite brunch-like items could be done too, and if you want to make it fun for the adults, mimosas are pretty easy and festive too! There was not much prep (the most time-intensive was the fruit salad) and it was perfect for a hot summer day! Hope that helps and have fun!

If you're trying to do some simple things you can do ahead, here are some ideas.......
Pizza
Subs, Salad
Finger foods such as:
Pigs in a Blanket for the kids
Lil Smokies - in crockpot w/ bbq sauce
Little sandwich rolls (Pinch 2 of the triangle canned rolls to make a square; spread w/ cream cheese, deli ham, etc.; roll up; slice into 1/2" rolls; bake on cookie tray)
Fruit tray, Veggie tray
Cracker & cheese tray
Also, check out: www.allrecipes.com They always have lots of simple ideas - and you can click on the party ideas section.

Have fun & good luck!

We've had fun with make your own pizza and sundae parties.
You can make your own dough, buy it or use bagels or english muffins and have the kids add sauce, cheese and toppings.
Everyone seems to enjoy building their own ice cream sundaes too.
Have fun and Happy Birthday!

Hello~

On several occasions, I have made mini pizzas and all the kids love them. Toast up some english muffins, just a bit so they don't get soggy. Put them on a cookie sheet, add pizza sauce, toppings and cheese and bake them in your oven until the cheese is melted. It's always a hit!

Enjoy!
W.

You could do different sandwiches on different breads. I did PB&J, turkey, tuna, ham, cheese on whole wheat, Rye, sourdough. PB&J is surprisingly good on rye. On some, you could put lettuce, tomato, pickle and leave some plain for those picky kids who don't eat veggies well.

Or, you could do pizza prebaked, or take and bake. Cut the pieces extra small so the little one don't throw half of it away.

YOu could do a veggie tray, fruit tray and chips and drinks with either of these.
Have a nice bday party.

My daughter just turned 3 a few weeks ago, and I made PB&J sandwiches (and some just jelly for the picky kiddos) and used large cookie cutters to make them into fun shapes. It's super easy and the kids loved the twist on a basic sandwich. I also just saw in a magazine that you can make something like mac-n-cheese and serve it in cupcake papers to dress it up. Check out this website, too. It always has some great ideas for parties, food, etc. http://familyfun.go.com/